Activity Post Week 4

Part 1

            As Malaysia achieved its independence in 1957, health quality among Malaysian women shows positive changes. Today, they are healthier, have a longer life expectancy and better quality of life compared to the 1950s. These positive changes are caused by increased access to quality health service, increases in nutrient intake, better sanitation with great supply of clean water. For my final project, I decided to learn more about breast cancer and its impact on Malaysian women. According to a report by Ministry of Women and Family Development of Malaysia (2003), among the cancers which affect women, breast and cervical cancers account for about half of total cases. In 2004, National Cancer Registry of Malaysia provide an age-standardized incidence rate of 46.2 for every 100,000 women which means around 1 in 20 women in Malaysia develop breast cancer in their lifetime (Cheng, Mohd Taib, & Mohamed, 2005). Nevertheless, different races in Malaysia shows different rates of breast cancer. Chinese shows the highest rate with 59.7 per 100,000 followed by the Indians at 55.8 per 100,000 and lastly Malays with 33.9 per 100,000. (Lim & Yahaya, 2004). These differences might be associated with some risk factors including reproductive factors, age, socioeconomic status and diet, with a possible influence of genetics. Study by Cheng et al. also shows that the Chinese tend to have fewer children with shorter breast-feed periods compared to the Malay women. Also, they are associated with generally higher socioeconomic status and high fat diets. The low rate for Malay women might also due to many unreported cases especially in rural areas where majority of them opt for traditional medicine. Age-wise, the prevalent age group is women in the age range of 40-49 with more than 50% of cases below the age of 50 years. (Hisham AN).

Part 2

            From a public health standpoint, breast cancer needs to be addressed as it is the commonest cancer in women in most parts of the world. In Asia, there has been a rapid increase in the incidence of breast cancer in recent years, and the disease may occur at a relatively young age (Moore et al., 2003) On top of that, there is also a wide variation in the mortality and survival between different countries and regions and also within specific populations. Thus, further research is needed to fully understand the reasons for variation in breast cancer outcomes and to help to reduce the burden of breast cancer worldwide. Besides, according to Cheng, there continues to be lack of cancer treatment facilities in Malaysia. There are only 21 cancer treatment centers available, of which only six are in the public sector and the remaining are in the private sector where the treatment cost is higher and may not be affordable to everyone. Geographically, the distribution of these centers is unequal which twelve of them concentrated in the national capital of Kuala Lumpur and nearby areas. Culturally, Malaysian women generally present with later stages of breast cancer compared to the other women in the developing countries. Thus, breast cancer needs to be addressed to increase the awareness of early detection and breast self-examination. According to a survey by Ministry of Health Malaysia, only 46.9% women reported having some form of breast examination be it self-examination, health-worker examination or mammography with lower rates are found among women in rural areas. Majority women in rural areas also prefer doing traditional treatment instead of going to any health facilities.

References:

Cheng, H. Y., Mohd Taib, N. A., & Mohamed, I. (2005). Epidemiology of breast cancer in Malaysia. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 7(3), 369-74.

Lim, G. C. C., & Yahaya, H. (2004), Second Report of The National Cancer Registry Cancer Incidence in Malaysia. National Cancer Registry Kuala Lumpur. Retrieved from http://www.care.upm.edu.my/dokumen/13603_2ndNCR2003.pdf

Ministry of Women and Family Development. (2003). The Progress of Malaysian Women Since Independence 1957 – 2000. Retrieved from https://www.undp.org/content/dam/malaysia/docs/WomenE/ProgressOfMalaysianWomen.pdf

Moore, M. A., Kazuo, T., Anh, P. H., Aydemir, G., Basu, P. S., Bhurgri, Y., . . . Tsuda, H. (2003). Grand challenges in global health and the practical prevention program? Asian focus on cancer prevention in females of the developing world. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention,4(2), 153-65.

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